1 Samuel 27:1 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And David said in his heart, I shall now perish— David, tired of wandering, weary of struggling with Saul's implacable spirit, sensible of the unequal conflict between too dangerous generosity, and too relentless malice, and unwilling longer to subsist by the spoils of his enemies or the bounty of his friends, resolves at last to quit his country, and throw himself once more under the protection of its enemies. This resolution has been generally censured, on account of his neglecting to consult God, either by his priest, or by his prophet, before he fixed upon it. God had before commanded him to go into the land of Judah, 1 Samuel 22:5 and surely he should not have left that place to go into a heathen country, without a like divine command, or at least permission. Wherefore most writers ascribe this resolution to a deficiency in grace, and a want of proper confidence in the protection of that God who had so often and so signally delivered him in the greatest exigencies.